Ryan Hicks makes melodic, cinematic, alt-pop music. Hicks is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer from Regina, Saskatchewan.

In addition to over 20 years of experience in music performance, he has both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Education. Hicks released his first album in 2014 and followed up in 2018 with the release of his self-produced record, titled ‘Pulsing Colours.’ In 2019, Hicks released his self-produced LP, ‘Dreams.’

Hicks is currently working on his fourth studio album, ‘Experience.’ The album is co-produced by Jon Anderson and Hicks. Ryan worked on the songs on his new album for three years through the pandemic and the album is a reflection of his experiences. The album features ten original new songs all written by Hicks. Ryan traveled to BC to record the album earlier this year, which features Hicks and Anderson on all instruments as well as drummer Tristan Helgason and vocalist Cynthia Peyson-Wahl.

“Experience is a reflection of going through the pandemic”

How do you usually approach songwriting?

Ryan Hicks: I approach it as a storyteller. I usually think of an idea or concept of a song (e.g. how could I do a love song, but not make it cliche or sappy), but for this one I had a different approach. I was in School of Song’s Robin Pecknold songwriting class where Robin was the teacher (Professor Pecknold and he was amazing as a teacher) and this song came from that experience. Robin’s approach was not a cookie-cutter template for a folk-rock song, but a series of questions and prompts. From the class, someone in a brainstorm session gave a line, “What would it be like to date a painter”. I took that idea and thought about a story of what it would be like to be married to a painter? Just as a painter sees a painting on a blank canvas before they start painting in their mind, do they live their life like this where everything is predetermined to manipulate? This is not my reality, but maybe it is for many who, while not married to a painter, are seeking a “perfect” life like one might see on Instagram. The song is a rejection of this in that I want my life to be in the moment and be thankful for what I have, instead of planning a perfect life and always looking for something “better”.

As a multi-instrumentalist, do you ever feel pressure to decide what instrument to use in a certain situation?

I would not call it pressure. Just as a painter has a selection of colours to work with, I see the instruments like this. My tendency is to layer the sound adding many instruments, but the approach was different on this song and album. I really wanted it to sound like a live-band and something I could reproduce on stage so we were picky with how many instruments and when they come in during the song. Working with co-producer Jonathan Anderson we recorded at his studio and it was amazing as he has a large selection of beautiful vintage instruments. It was a quick process of being in the moment, looking around the room and grabbing an instrument that spoke to us for a sound we were looking for. Both Jonathan and I are multi-instrumentalists so often we would track different instruments together at the same time. It was very spontaneous and a joy to work like this. Many of the musical decisions were made in the moment, minimal takes and the album came together quickly because of it.

You have released three albums so far, would you like to share a few words about each, what runs through your mind when listening to them again?

I love each of those albums for different reasons. While I have only been a recording artist for nine years, I have been songwriting and recording at home for 30 years. When I hear each album now it reminds me of where I was in my life for each album. Every album was a concept album and I still love what I did on each one. For this album, I feel it is by far my best album of my life as I have grown in so many ways as a writer, performer and I hope as a person. I feel like I know myself much better now and I feel that translates into the music. I feel like I have really developed and discovered my songwriting and performing voice on this album.

Do you feel that your latest album, ‘Dream’ sets a nice base for your upcoming album, ‘Experience?’

I do in that I leaned into mystery and dreams in the last album and this is an album that reflects my current reality. ‘Experience’ is a reflection of going through (and continuing to go through) the pandemic. In the early days of the pandemic, while I had plenty of time on my hands to write music, I did not write anything for over a year. My imagination is stimulated by many things, but I found it so hard to write about anything “fun” when I was worried, scared and the future was unknown. Where the album Dream was dreamlike, my reality was full of anxiety. As each day went by, I felt like I was getting further away from who I wanted to be.

What I did with my time was reconnect with myself and I found being outside in nature with my dog, Jersey would be one of the only things that would help me relax. I was lucky as I was able to connect with a wonderful therapist and it really helped me get back to a sense of peace within. I highly recommend anyone seeking professional help and I am fortunate that I have that. I was able to reconnect with how I felt as a child and in doing so it gave me a sense of peace and inspired this record. As a child I was carefree, full of wonder and as I reconnected with that my songwriting flowed out like a great sea. In the end, being away from music was a good thing as I remembered why I fell in love with it years ago and has given me new energy to make my best work yet. I want to give the listener a message of love and optimism with the new album.

“Every song I write has to pass “the campfire” test”

You are a producer for your music, do you feel that way you have more freedom at the final result?

Outside of songwriting, I am a music teacher and have spent most of my life teaching choir to elementary and high school students. As a singer myself, I was in a world-class choir who was able to represent Canada at some amazing festivals around the globe. I learned so much from the conductor Kathryn Laurin and I feel that choral directing has made me a better music producer. While not comparing myself to him, Brian Wilson is one of my hero’s and in interviews from the 1960’s I would read how he would approach the studio as an instrument and how that studio production would influence the final song. To imagine the sound you want in your head first and then working with a choir or other musicians to get that sound. While it is good to have a sound in your head you are aiming for, being in the moment and paying attention to new sounds and ideas that occur in the process. This is a big thing when I record my lead vocals as I want the vocal to be musical (e.g. in-tune, effortless), but also have the right emotion. I found that not pushing my voice and letting things be natural gave me the best vocals and my way of “producing” myself was to get out of the way and sing from my heart.

Another thing I do is every song I write has to pass “the campfire” test. Would this song sound good around the campfire with just voice and guitar or better yet, just voice?” No amount of studio production can fix a bad song, so I wanted to make sure I was happy with the songs before sharing them with Jonathan to work on pre-production. While some of these songs date back a few years, this upcoming single, ‘No Life For Me’ was written very quickly just before we worked on the album and I continued writing it while in the studio. While I think it is good to have a plan, this was the most spontaneous song I have ever written and I love the result. I really worked hard on making a memorable melody and this song came together quickly as I worked on refining the melody.

How far are you from finishing your upcoming album, and please share some further words about recording and producing it.

The album is coming out in 2023, but it is done! In the past I felt like I rushed some aspects and for this album I wanted to take my time. I am in Regina, Saskatchewan Canada and Jonathan is in British Columbia. As there is such a big distance, we felt it would be good to work out preproduction on the songs ahead of time so when I was there we could work quickly. Last fall, we sketched out most of the album in terms of songs and production. The Robin Pecknold songwriting class was wonderful as it happened just before I left to record at Jonathan’s studio Protection Island. Before I left, I had two new songs and did re-writes on all of the songs to improve them (mostly improving the melodies to make them more memorable). I was at Jonathan’s studio for five days and we would spend the entire day working on my vocals and instruments. I would get up early before the session and go for walks in the woods as he lives in the middle of a beautiful forest. By the time the session would start, I was warmed up, feeling great and excited to get to work. After five days, soon after my friend Tritan Helgason came in to do his drums for the album. Tristan is a great friend from Regina, who now lives in Vancouver. Over the pandemic, I took online drum lessons with Tristan and he was my first choice for drums on this album. Tristan and Jonathan spent three days on the drums and additional overdubs as needed.

While Jonathan and I would continue to work remotely on the album, most of it was finished within a few weeks. The last thing I did was some additional background vocals with the wonderful Cynthia Peyson-Wahl at my home studio. We worked hard on a plan for the album and I am glad we did as when it was time to record it went so smoothly. It was by far the best creative experience I have ever had working with this great team.

What makes a good song?

If you can instantly remember the melody and find yourself singing it, then that is a quality of a good song. Also, I hope to reach people with the emotion of a song. While I draw from my experiences, I try to create emotion in my songs that many people can relate to. I don’t want to be preachy in my songs, but send out into the universe a message of love with every song I make.

If you could work with any other current artist who would it be?

Paul McCartney is another hero of mine. While not comparing my music to his, we both love beautiful melodies and are multi-instrumentalists. I would love to spend a day in a studio with Paul and see what we could create. While not trying to copy Paul, one of the songs on the album is called, ‘Kaleidoscope’ and started as being inspired by Paul’s music from the 90’s. I love his album ‘Off The Ground’ from the early 90’s and while his work with The Beatles gets most of the attention, when I was a teen this album inspired me and I wanted to create something beautiful, positive and optimistic as he would do.

Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

In no particular order, some of my favorites are:

The Beach Boys – ‘Pet Sounds’
Paul McCartney- ‘Chaos and Creation in the Backyard’
Beck – ‘Mutations’
Lou Reed – ‘Magic and Loss’
Fleet Foxes – ‘Helplessness Blues’
Neil Young – ‘Harvest Moon’
Joni Mitchell – ‘Clouds’
Supergrass – ‘Supergrass’
Lizzo – ‘Special’
Daniel Lanois – ‘Acadie’